Miles Davis Kind of Blue Made in Austria CD

Picked up one of these orig. non-remastered CD's last night at Amoeba. It has the blue border, and is obviously a non-remastered edition (no bonus version of Flamenco Sketches). I decided to a-b to my 1997 Sony/Legacy edition and the orig. was significantly better than the remaster. This surprised me because I always like the remaster. Also, there's more tape hiss on the remaster, but whereas the remaster sounds shrill in certain places, the orig. does not. Plus, the bass is full and deep on the orig. Not so on the remaster.

I do not know if the mastering on this Austrian KOB is the same as on the JPN. made for the US market KOB (which has no blue border) or the orig. KOB CD made in JPN. for the JPN. market, as I don't have those.

I also have the Sony 20-bit gold CD in the slip case and the SACD, but did not compare those.

I also have a Made in Austria (with a blue border) Miles Ahead and it too is wonderful. Silky-smooth.

I tried to find the thread where all the various versions of KPB are discussed but couldn't. The gorts can move this post there and delete this thread, as theysee fit.

 

Is it this one?



It sounds really awful, with no treble at all (probably an attempt not to shock CD fans with hiss). Many fist CD reissues by CBS sounded that way.

The "Miles Ahead" disc is made from the wrong tapes (alternate takes), has lots of tape defects and is mono.

 

Yes, those are the ones. But I disagree with you as to how they sound.

Personally, I am pleased to note that the Miles Ahead used alternate mizes and mono tapes. It's nice to have Miles in mono on CD from this era.

 

There were two editions with this cover, at least. The first one was stereo, and the second was mono. Both were different from the original mono vinyl, and both different from the remastered version (current one, afaik).
The first edition (stereo), while being a remix with wrong tapes, sounds very good - at least in vinyl, the format I own. It has decent treble and some hiss. I had the CD of the second edition (mono), and I remember it had poor treble and it didn't sound good at all.

So, it's possible you are talking about a different version than the one the original poster owns.

 

That's not the first CD reissue of Kind of Blue; the first CD release was the Japan-for-U.S. pressing Columbia CK 08163, which had the same cover picture as the current remaster, but with the Compact Disc logo in the bottom right corner and without the Columbia logo in the top right corner:

 

Yes, I am AWARE of that, as I pointed out in my post. I NEVER said it was the first issue.

 

I wil have to listen again.

 

No need to get upset - my post was not directed at you, it was a reply to Claude's post, who implied it was the first CD issue; that's why I quoted his post, not yours. Sheesh...

 

My apologies.

 

No problem.

 

With regards to the shrillness in KOB, are you referring to what sounds like clipping during the first few minutes of "So What" or just to a general shrill qualitt? If that is not present on this early issue, I would be surprised as I believe it is on the mastertape as I have heard it on every vinyl and cd version of the recording.

 

Sorry for having been so vague. I'm aware that it was not the very first release. But it was the "early" mass-market CD release that has been around for many years, that's why I did not elaborate on that.

I think it's the worst sounding version. The 1997 remaster may sound a tad bright, but it's much more natural than the early release, which is heavily EQed in the opposite direction.

 

The shrill quality is on certain high notes of what I believe it Miles's instrument. The 1997 remaster was almost unlistenable after this CD.

 

It sounds to me that you are correct. I guess I just prefer the original, at least for now.

 

is it speed corrected? i thought sony didn't correct that until the gold mastersound disc from the early 90's.

later, chris

 

That's my understanding too. I do not believe this is speed corrected.

 

I prefer the SACD version of KoB. I've had it for a few years now and it's my version of choice.

 

As far as digital versions go, I think the SACD and the 1995 Mastersound Gold sound great. Both are quite different. The SACD sounds very detailed, but sometimes too thin. The Mastersound sounds warmer and more bass-heavy. I prefer some tracks on the SACD, and others on the CD. The 1997 CD remaster sounds similar to the SACD, minus the high resolution.

 

I also have this blue border cd and the 1997 SBM edition. I agree with your obervations 100%. The blue border is natural sounding, relaxed and silky smooth. To me it sounds like the high end on the 1997 edition is tweaked quite a bit making it sound sharp/shrill. I far prefer the blue border to the 1997 SBM. It is stated that it is digitally remastered directly from the original analog tapes in the inlay. To me it sounds like a flat transfer, and a very nice sounding one too.

 

If you really believe your ears, and I'm guessing you do, I think you're the only person who believes these sound good, let alone better than the MasterSound, remastered redbook with extra tracks, or SACD. At this time, I only have the MasterSound which is a bit too reverberant, but at least it's speed corrected.

 

Thanks for the words. Sometimes I wonder if, at some point, we are just arguing about preferences. I mean, some people like the MFSL Beatles LP's and it is undisputed that there's a boost (10 db?, I forget now) in the mids (IIRC). So, someone prefering that is prefering something, that for want of a better word is "wrong", at least IMHO.

 

I got rid of mine years ago. I had to boost the treble all the way to maximum just to even listen to that CD. (And this is a U.S. pressing of that CD. European pressings may use different tapes and EQ.)

 

I am almost certain that the version with the blue frame around the artwork is no-noised.

The best version I heard so far is the early Japanese pressing. I actually have the second Japanese pressing, and it sounds fabulous. I am not sure if the first Japanese pressing has the same mastering.

I also have/had the 1997 redbook remaster (too strongly EQ'd for my liking, and also slightly compressed), the SACD (which is my second favorite version), the Sony Mastersound Gold CD (which also wasn't bad) and the one with the blue frame.

 

I have a few different versions and I am very happy with the sound on the SACD. The SACD sounds warm to me. I haven't played any other version in a long time. Are there other Miles Davis SACD's that are as good as this one?

 

I don't have it on SACD, but I recommend without reservation Miles Smiles (two channel only) and the creme de la creme In A Silent Way which has an outstanding 5.1 mix.